Tyrone Mings: Asked about the injury to Tyrone Mings, Emery says “It doesn’t look good, it doesn’t look good.”
Unai Emery speaks: “The first thing is Newcastle, who are strong at home,” ther Villa manager tells Sky Sports, when asked to asses his side’s performance. “They started winning and when we were in the match and when we scored the goal we had some good chances.
“In the second half we started trying to cvhange and to control the game better than the first halfand when they scored the third goal, the match finished. Newcastle deserved in 90 minutes to win and we had some good moments but it wasn’t enough. It is a sad week for us losing Emi Buendia and then Tyrone Mings. The worse thing that happened to us was [the injury to] Tyrone.”
Match report: Newcastle 5-1 Aston Villa
Premier League: Newcastle debutants Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes were among the goals as rampant Newcastle tore Aston Villa asunder at St James’ Park. Louis Taylor reports from Tyneside …
Eddie Howe speaks: “He’s a special player who can do special things,” he says of Alexander Isak. “I’ve just seen his second goal again and I hadn’t realised quite how good it was. I thought he epitomised the team. We were front foot again, we tried to impose ourselves and take the game to Aston Villa and we scored some great goals. We could have scored more in the end.”
On the overall performance: “Our energy and our fitness levels really stood out for me. The longer the game went on, the stronger we looked. Aston VIlla are a good team and although we won 5-1, they still created problems for us. That’s the Premier League, the level is so high.”
Alexander Isak: “Yeah, maybe if you look at the score, it’s the first game of the season and maybe it can be be a bit tight but we wanted to give a good first impression,” says the Newcastle striker, upon being asked by Sky Sports if he is surprised by NEwcastle’s maring of victory.
Om Sandro Tonali: “I thin prior to his arrival here, we all knew his quality. It’s not easy to come to a new league and make such a debut as he did; the same with Harvey [Barnes], so yeah, it was really impressive.”
A quick recap: Sandro Tonali enjoyed a drewam debut, scoring Newcastle’s opener before helping to set up their second either side of a Moussa Diaby equaliser. It was Alexander Isak who restored Newcastle’s lead, before extending with a beauty borne out of an awful error from Ezri Konsa.
Callum Wilson and Harvey Barnes completed the rout after coming off the bench, while Aston Villa lost Tyrone Mings to what appears to be a very serious injury sustained on the back of what looked a thoroughly unremarkable coming-together with Isak as the pair tussled for the ball. Mings is currently being assessed in a local hospital and we wish him all the very best.
Full time: Newcastle 5-1 Aston Villa
Peep! Peep! Peep! With Callum Wilson bearing down on goal, Ezri Konsa denies him with a wonderfully timed tackle. Bobby Madley draws proceedings to a close and Newcastle’s fans celebrate an emphatic win in their opening match of the season. Their team has spanked five goals past Aston Villa, whose manager will be appalled by a performance that was at times surprisingly inept.
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90+5 min: Villa win a corner which Newcastle clear.
90+2 min: Sandro Tonali is booked for time-wasting as he dawdles off the pitch after being substituted. He’s had an excellent debut and is replaced by Elliott Anderson, a 20-year-old from Whitley Bay who has been with the club for 12 years.
GOAL! Newcastle 5-1 Aston Villa (Barnes 90+1)
Newcastle score five! Aston Villa’s high line costs them dearly again. Harvey Barnes sprints on to a through ball and slots it past Emi Martinez. It’s dreadful defending from Villa.
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89 min: Unai Emery does not look best pleased in his technical area and it’s small wonder. The Aston Villa manager has every right to be concerned with the man ner in which his side’s defence has occasionally been eviscerated by Newcastle’s players, who are still pressing and harrying relentlessly despite being three goals up with the game in its knockings.
87 min: Aston Villa double-substitution: Moussa Diaby and Matty Cash go off to be replaced by Philippe Coutinho and academy graduate Jaden Philogene.
85 min: Newcastle double-substitution: Bruno Guimaraes and Miguel Almiron make way for Sean Longstaff and Jacob Murphy.
83 min: Newcastle win a corner and Martinez comes for the ball but doesn’t get near it. Joelinton heads the ball goalwards but Ollie Watkins blocks on the line and clears.
81 min: From just inside the Villa half, Barnes is released in a one-on-one against Martinez and gallops goalwards before unselfishly laying the ball off to Wilson, who was up in support. He looks certain to score from close range, but Martinez somehow keeps the ball out with one of his knee.
79 min: Newcastle’s fourth goal survives a VAR check for offside, much to the delight of the home fans. Villa are getting battered here, much like they piled the hurt on Newcastle when the two sides met at Villa Park last April.
GOAL! Newcastle 4-1 Aston Villa (Wilson 77)
Newcastle stretch their lead! Taking advantage of Villa’s high defensive line, Barnes latches on to a through ball in behind and squares it for Callum Wilson. He slots home with a minimum of fuss.
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75 min: Harvey Barnes hasn’t been on the field long but has already sent one cross into the Villa penalty area and drawn two fouls from Ezri Konsa.
74 min: Matty Cash sends a speculative low cross fizzing across the Newcastle penalty area, forcing Nick Pope to get something on the ball and put it out for a corner. Nothing comes of the set-piece.
72 min: Tyrone Mings update: Sky Sports are reporting that after receving lengthy treatment in the bowels of St James’ Park, the Aston Villa centre-half has been taken to a local hospital. Fingers crossed that his injury isn’t too bad.
70 min: Newcastle double-substitution: Harvey Barnes and Callum Wilson are on for Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak.
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66 min: Bruno Guimaraes is booked for brandishing an imaginary yellow card in a bid to get Pau Torres booked for a foul on Sandro Tonali. I’m not sure that’s the imaginary yellow card Bruno had in mind when he appealed to Andy Madley’s better judgement. It’s nice to see this crackdown on player dissent and long may it continue.
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64 min: Ollie Watkins jinks this way and that as he gallops into the Newcastle penalty area and his low drive is parried into the path of Matty Cash by Nick Pope. The Aston Villa full-back blazes the rebound high and wide when scoring looked easier. It’s a bad miss.
63 min: Aston Villa substitution: John McGinn makes way for Diego Carlos.
64 min: Now it’s Almiron’s chance to go close. His low shot fizzes between the legs of Matty Cash and is headed goalwards, but Martinez rescues his side again.
62 min: Isak almost notches up his hat-trick but is denied by a smart save from Martinez in a one-on-one with the Villa keeper.
60 min: That was an awful error from Konsa, who was in control of the ball and was headed for the corner flag but dithered, miscontrolled and allowed Isak to mug him. The neatly clipped finish into the far corner that followed was sublime.
GOAL! Newcastle 3-1 Aston Villa (Isak 58)
Newcastle extend their lead. Ezri Konsa rolls his foot over the top of the ball and allows Alexander Isak to rob him off possessino on the left side of the Villa penalty area. With a soft-shoe shuffle, he sits Martinez on his backside and dinks the ball over him to finish exquisitely.
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56 min: Alexander Isak, looking preposterously offside, cuts inside from the left as several Villa players switch off and wait for the flag to go up and the whistle to be blown. Both things eventually happen but not before he’d taken a shot and brought a smart save out of Emi Martinez.
55 min: Villa corner. Lucas Digne arrows the ball towards the near post but Boubacar Kamara gets too much purchase on his header and sends it well wide. To borrow a phrase from Andy Townsend: If anything, Clive, he’s headed it too well.
52 min: In a tit-for-tat booking, Anthony Gordon gets cautioned for a lunge on Matty Cash. He brought the Villa full-back down without getting near the ball.
51 min: Gordon plays Almiron in behind with a beautifully weighted short pass. There’s too much weight on the subsequent cross and the ball eludes Isak, who was lurking with menacing intent in the Villa penalty area.
49 min: Correction: he becomes the fourth Villa player to be booked in this game.
48 min: Matty Cash is having a torrid evening of it trying to keep Anthony Gordon on a tight rein and is booked for fouling the Newcastle forward. He becomes the fifth Villa player to be booked in this game.
47 min: Tielemans first on-pitch action in a Villa shirt is to give the ball away as he tries to sweep it forward first time after receiving a pass.
Second half: Newcastle 2-1 Aston Villa
46 min: Newcastle get the second half under way and Aston Villa have made a change. Youri Tielemans is on for Leon Bailey, who appeared to be struggling with a back injury towards the end of the first half.
Half-time: Newcastle 2-1 Aston Villa
Andy Madley is booed by the denizens oif St James’ Park as he blows for half-time, the locals still unhappy that he didn’t send off Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez for what was quite clearly an offence only worthy of a caution. Interestingly but unsurprisdingly, Martinez’s post-foul finger-wag in the direction of the ref suggested he believed he’d done nothing wrong at all!
It’s been a half of … well, two halves’; one hi-octane, fast and furious in which Sandro Tonali fired Newcastle ahead before Moussa Diaby equalised for Villa. Alexander Isak restored Newcastle’s lead as the game bubbled along nicely, only for all “oomf” to be lost after Tyrone Mings was stretchered off after suffering what appeared to be an injury that was both freakish and serious.
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45+8 min: Emi Martinez charges out of his goal towards the touchline chasing the same ball as Miguel Almiron. With unceremonious vigour, he takes out the Paraguayan and gets away with a booking because he didn’t prevent anything resembling a clear goal-scoring opportunity. Newcastle’s fans are unimpressed, as is Sven Botman, who also gets booked for flapping his gums.
45+7 min: Bruno is penalised for a nudge on Matty Cash and Villa have a free-kick about 35 yards from the Newcastle goal. Douglas Luiz plays the ball wide to Digne, who is unable to cross the ball before it crosses the byline.
45+6 min: Diaby runs directly towards the Newcastle penalty area and pings the ball forward to Watkins, who has his back to goal. As the Villa striker tries to turn, Dan Burn robs him of possession.
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45+4 min: A promising move from Newcastle inspired by Kieran Trippier ends when Anthony Gordon miscontrols the ball out by the touchline and puts it out for a throw-in.
45+3 min: Leon Bailey triesd to send Diaby on his way down the right flank with a back-heel around the corner, but Dan Burn is on hand to intercept.
45 min: In his role as referee, Andy Madley seems to be in a needlessly fussy mood and is blowing for free-kicks at the slightest sign of contact between players. If this is part of a new refereeing directive, I can’t say I’m in favour of it and I doubt the players or fans are enamoured with it either.
We’ll have a minimum of 10 minutes of added time, most of it due to the lengthy period of time medics spent treating Tyrone Mings before removing him from the arena.
44 min: Diaby should have done better, there, as he was never likely to score with a shot to the near post. He could have squared the ball or at least tried to aim a shot towards the vast expanse of goal not being covered by Nick Pope.
42 min: The rhythm of the match is broken up by a series of niggly fouls from players on both sides. Moussa Diaby gets in behind the Newcastle defence after playing a give-and-go with Douglas Luiz but with plenty of goal to aim at, shoots straight into the side netting at the near post from an admittedly tight angle.
40 min: Boubacar Kamara wins a free-kick for Villa, about 40 yards from the Newcastle goal. Luiz sends it wide to Lucas Digne, whose pulled cross into the Newcastle penalty area is intercepted.
37 min: A match that reached boiling in time in less time than your average kettle has seriously simmered down since Mings was stretchered off the pitch. The atmosphere around St James’ Park seems rather subdued in the wake of his as yet unidentified injury. I hope Mings is okay but he seemed in a terrible amount of distress after going to ground in the wake of a shoulder barge with Isak that could not have looked more routine or inoccuous.
35 min: Digne takes an excellent corner and Douglas Luiz takes advantage of a lapse in concentration from Bruno to try to steer a header goalwards. It’s a meaty header but he fails to hit the target.
31 min: Some overdue admin: In all the excitement following Sandro Tonali’s opening goal, I forgot to mention that Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz was booked for dissent.
The name of Lucas Digne joins his in the referee’s notebook after the Villa defender kicked the ball out of Miguel Almiron’s hands as the Newcastle player tried to pick it up to take a quick throw-in. Fair enough.
30 min: Aston Villa substitution: with his hands covering his face, Mings is stretchered off to warm applause from all parts of the ground and is replaced by Pau Torres, who comes on for his debut.
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27 min: Mings looks in lots of distress and players from both teams gesture for the stretcher-bearers. It looked to be a completely inocccuous coming-together with Isak but the Villa centre-half looks in all sorts of bother and seems to have suffered a serious leg injury. He’s currently being readied for the stretcher by the medics and will be replaced by Pau Torres.
25 min: Tyrone Mings goes down beating the gro0und in frustration after a shoulder-to-shoulder tussle with Alexander Isak. With no foul, play continued and moments later, Ollie Watkins failed to connect properly after running on to a pass from Diaby.
22 min: While it’s difficult to take your eyes off the action on the pitch, it’s worth noting that during a recent break in play, Eddie Howe retreated to the back of his technical area so that Jason Tindall could stride forward and give Anthony Gordon some instructions. We could see the same sort of manager/assistant to-ing and fro-ing during the match between Arsenal and Nottingham Forest earlier.
19 min: Anthony Gordon dispossesses Ezri Konza and is penalised. Villa win a free-kick, halfway inside the Newscastle half. Their hosts are defending with a very high line and nothing comes of the set piece.
GOAL! Newcastle 2-1 Aston Villa (Isak 16)
Newcastle back in front. Alexander Isak prods home a ball squared his way by Sven Botman at a set-piece taken from deep after a John McGinn foul on Bruno Guimaraes. There’s a lengthy VAR check for offside but the goal stands.
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15 min: Going back to that first goal; Emi Martinez parried a long-range effort from Bruno Guimaraes, but only in the direction of Anthony Gordon. He played a one-two with Joelinton which took him to the byline, which allowed him to send in a corss. Tonali hooked the ball home with a nice little swivel kick.
GOAL! Newcastle 1-1 Aston Villa (Diaby 11)
Villa equalise! Diaby, another debutant, spanks home a bouncing ball from 12 yards out with his weaker right foot to restore parity for Villa. The ball was played in from the right, Ollie Watkins got the flick-on and Miguel Almiron fell asleep. Diaby’s finish was most assured and measured.
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10 min: Villa attack on the counter and Moussa Diaby canters up the inside left with the ball at his feet. He’s no slouch but Anthony Gordon gallops back to prevent him from turning inside and Villa’ new acquisition is unable to get a shot off. Excellent defending from Gordon, who’s had a very busy and proiductive start to this game.
8 min: Tonali almost scores his second after being played in behind by Anthony Gordon. He’s denied by an excellent save from Emi Martinez. It’s a seriously high octane start by Newcastle and Villa don’t knopw what’s hit them.
GOAL! Newcastle 1-0 Aston Villa (Tonali 5)
Newcastle lead! Sandro Tonali hooks them ahead just five minutes into his debut after getting on the end of an excellent cross from Anthony Gordon.
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5 min: Anthony Gordon is fouled by Matty Cash and Newcastle have a free-kick wide on the left. Kieran Trippier’s delivery is uncharacteristically poor and he raises a hand by way of apology to his teammates.
3 min: Fabian Schar advances upfield and despatches the ball. Alexander Isak is sent in behind the Villa defence but is not quite quick enough to get himself in a one-on-one with Martinez.
2 min: The player of the tournament at the U21 European Championship won by England, Anthony Gordon gets forward down the inside left but is too hasty in getting his low cross into the penalty area. There’s nobody up in support and Villa clear their lines.
Newcastle United v Aston Villa is go ...
1 min: Aston Villa get the ball rolling, with John McGinn doing the honours. Prior to kick-off, their players posed for a photo wearing T-shirts supporting their fallen comrade Emi Buendia, who suffered what is being reported as a “horrific” knee injury in training during the week. We wish him well in his recovery.
Not long now: Led by referee Andy Madley and his team of match officials, the teams march out for what could be a potential thriller on the Premier League’s opening weekend. They’re greeted by a ferocious din.
New rules: In new regulations which Newcastle fans could be forgiven for thinking may have been put in place specifically with their team in mind, managers are no longer allowed to be joined by their coaching staff in the technical area.
The upshot? If Eddie Howe or Unai Emery wish to stand on the edge of their designated pitchside rectangles barking instructions at their players, members of their coaching staff are not allowed to join them. THis could have a particularly adverse effect on the dynamic between Howe and his assistant Jason Tindall, who spent much of last season attached at the hip in their space outside their dug-out.
Referees have also been ordered to clamp down on time-wasting, with Newcastle having been listed among the main offenders in the Premier League last season. It’s a weird offence, time-wasting … one that fans gernerally have no problem with when their team is guilty of it, but tend to get quite stroppy about when their side are the victims. Funny, that.
St James’ Park: Unlike at the Emirates early today, the turnstiles at Newcastle’s fortress seem to be click-clacking with commendable efficiency and the stands are filling up nicely, so it seems unlikely this evening’s kick off will be delayed.
Those teams: Sandro Tonali is the only one of Newcastle’s trio of summer signings to force his way into Eddie Howe’s starting line-up and will presumably play on the right of a midfield three including Bruno Giumaraes and Joelinton.
Harvey Barnes and Tino Livramento settle for places on the bench, where they are joined by Callum Wilson. Alexander Isak gets the nod up front, with Anthony Gordon and Miguel Almiron playing either side of him.
In from Bayer Leverkusen for a reported club record fee of £51m, Moussa Diaby starts for Aston Villa. His fellow new arrivals, Pau Torres and Youri Tielemans, are among the substitutes.
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Newcastle United v Aston Villa
Newcastle United: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Almiron, Isak, Gordon.
Subs: Dubravka, Lascelles, Wilson, Targett, Barnes, Livramento, Murphy, Anderson, Longstaff.
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne, Kamara, Douglas Luiz, Diaby, McGinn, Bailey, Watkins.
Subs: Diego Carlos, Tielemans, Torres, Chambers, Coutinho, Olsen, Jayden Philogene-Bidace, Archer, Kellyman.
Referee: Andrew Madley (West Yorkshire)
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Today's match officials
Referee: Andy Madley
Assistants: Richard West and Nick Hopton
Fourth official: Graham Scott.
VAR: Simon Hooper
Early team news
Newcastle go into today’s season opener with a fairly clean bill of health, although Joe Willock will miss their opening three games of the campaign as he recovers from a hamstring injury which precluded his participation in pre-season training. Emile Krafth and Javier Manquillo are also ruled out, while Fabian Schar will undergo a late fitness test.
Aston Villa suffered the hammer blow of losing Emi Buendia to a serious knee injury in the closing stages of training on Thursday and the midfielder joins an injury list on which the names Jacob Ramsey, Alex Moreno, Bertrand Traore and Leander Dendoncker already feature. Aaron Ramsey, younger brother of Jacob, is also unlikely to be in today’s matchday squad as he is about to finalise a £14m move to Burnley.
Premier League: Newcastle v Aston Villa
Having achieved a top four finish well ahead of schedule just 18 months after their takeover, Newcastle kick-off the season with a match against another of last season’s surprise packages. Following the dismissal of Steven Gerrard, Aston Villa were completely revolutionised and re-energised by Unai Emery, who took them from the lower reaches of the Premier League to seventh in just six months.
With both sides playing in Europe this season, they may struggle to replicate their league form of last season but both Eddie Howe and Emery have brought in new faces to increase their squad depth.
Sandro Tonali (AC Milan), Harvey Barnes (Leicester) and Tino Livramento (Southampton) have all been unveiled at St James’ Park, while Moussa Diaby (Bayer Leverkusen), Youri Tielemans (Leicester City) and Pau Torres (Villarreal) have been added to the Villa payroll. Kick-off at St James’ Park is at 5.30pm (BST) but we’ll have plenty of team news and build-up in the meantime.
